Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and culture

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

EVENTS

Lively: Obama is the Antichrist

Deranged bigot Scott Lively, the man who thinks the Nazis were all gay and that’s why they were so vicious, went on TruNews with the equally deranged Rick Wiles and declared that Obama is the Antichrist, that he would create a one-world government and a global secular religion.

Lively: Regional war breaks out and at the same time, because of that, the global economy collapses, crashes. That begins the serious pain for the entire world that the globalists actually want to prepare them for the global, one-world system. They already have the economic system to bring in; just nobody is ready to accept it. So at the right time, after there’s been enough pain, what happens is the Antichrist—I won’t name any names here but he is heading the largest superpower of the world today—steps in at the right time and does three things. He declares a global jubilee in which all the debts of the world are eliminated, this is after there’s been massive numbers of people who have died—

Wiles: Scott, I told people, I told our audience years ago, I’m going to say 2008, I said on this program this global financial crisis will be so bad that at some point in the future a world leader will say the only solution is biblical, we will have to cancel all the debts and we are going to have a global jubilee.

Lively: Amen. And we just happen to have one coming up, September 23, 2015.

Wiles: And the politician who does it is going to be hailed as the greatest man on the planet.

Lively: The hero of the world, right? This is the guy that also is going to be able to do what no one else in the history of the Middle East conflict could do. He’s going to have brought a peace treaty between the Palestinians and the Israelis; the Palestinians get their two-state solution and the Israelis get the permission to build on the Temple Mount. And who is the hero? It’s the guy that I’m not going to mention his name.

Wiles: And a lot of Christians when they see the Temple going up are going to hyperventilate, thinking this is a great thing and they have no idea that Antichrist is coming.

Lively: Only because it’s a symbol of what’s coming. Here’s the one other part that’s been missing, you’ve alluded to it and we’re very close on this that at the same time he introduces the new global system but here’s the other missing component. What’s the religion of the Antichrist? The religion of the Antichrist is secular humanism.

It’s gonna be fun to point this out in 2016 when none of those things happen. Not that it will change anything. Being a wingnut means never acknowledging all the wrong predictions you made about the impending doom around the corner.

I said on this program this global financial crisis will be so bad that at some point in the future a world leader will say the only solution is biblical, we will have to cancel all the debts and we are going to have a global jubilee.

Yes. This sounds exactly like Obama.

This is the guy that also is going to be able to do what no one else in the history of the Middle East conflict could do.

Why do I get the feeling that Ed sets a reminder into his calendar so he can gloat about the idiocy of guys like this in a few years?

That wouldn’t be necessary.

The fundie xians are almost always wrong about everything. Their whole religion is lies piled on top of lies.

You can be sure that anything to do with the Apocalypse, Endtimes, Second Coming, Kingdom etc.. are wrong. AFAWK, the sKy fairies, angels, demons, and satan are not only invisible but imaginary, they don’t do anything because they don’t exist.

I used to keep half an eye out on Rapture dates which happen a few times a year and are always wrong. After a while, it got too boring to bother with. No one really cares when they come and go but they are a quick way for some conperson to pick up a few million dollars.

What I find amazing is that the same people who believe that we are about to enter into a One World Government also agree with those who say that we’ve had a OWG for the past 50 (or 200) years and don’t experience the slightest cognitive dissonance.

Why do I get the feeling that Ed sets a reminder into his calendar so he can gloat about the idiocy of guys like this in a few years?

I wish somebody would. More people should call out the right wing’s cynical exploitation of perpetual voter amnesia. It’s time to stop letting these nutbars ignore their failed prediction; they should be losing credibility every time they announce OMG OBAMA WILL THROW CHRISTIANS IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS WITHIN 6 MONTHS and it fails to happen.

What!?!? I thought I was the Anti-Christ???!?? OBAMA WAS SUPPOSED TO APPOINT ME, THE DIVINE AND BLASPHEMOUS TRANSGENDER BAPHOMET, HEAD OF THE SECRET ILLUMINATI, TO RULE THE WORLD. The Initiated know about the Secret Transgender Queen destined to rule the world, and one day I will rule above all of these petty religious morons with iron flats wrapped in velvet ^.^ Muahhahahah /evil witch cackle

WE MUST!!!! WE MUST GET MORE CHRISTIAN BRAINS FOR THE HAARP MACHINE, GRIND UP MORE BRAINS AND BRING THEM TO ME MINIONS!

**shush, don’t tell the right wing, we can’t let this important secret get out as they might try to resist our One World BubbleGum Gubbmint Tyranny!*

Is building on Temple Mount even something the Israeli government wants to do? I’m sure you can find some group in Israel who advocate that but I’ve heard of any great demand. Aside from anything else they have controlled the area since 1967 and have not been slow in that time to build things on other disputed land.

It’s the Fundie Xians who most want to build on Temple Mount because, IIRC, restoration of the Hebrew Temple is a required element of the last days. There are also quite a few fundie Jews who would like to see it as well, I think.

There was a meme floating around Facebook about Ted Nugent and his prediction that if Obama were re-elected, he (Nugent) would be dead or in jail. Something along the lines of “Well, Ted? How about that prediction?”

We can take turns being “the” antifaerie, a different person six of the seven days of the week, and everyone gets to be the(?) antifaerie on the remaining day (at the baby barbecue). Pirate costumes optional.

There is a vigorous plot afoot of Venetian Black Nobility women (such as myself) to pretend to be Welfare Queens in order to empty Republican pockets of hard earned cash they’ve worked a million years for!! Evil Monarchist plot for transgender welfare queens to empty the pockets of honest, hardworking, rich white republican assholes. They call it Illuminati sub plot 509 and it’s all about getting as many people on welfare as possible, especially LGBT people, so we can slowly empty the pockets of rich people everywhere and then eat their brains out in soylent green! :3

CerberusCheerleader“So we’ll have peace in the middle east, an elimination of all debt and a new world order of global secular humanism? That doesn’t sound too bad. I’m kinda looking forward to this.”
Good outcomes means bad (or, in Obama’s case, evil) leaders. You know your nation is lead by a good leader, a truly Christian one, when everything he touches turns to shit. That’s just common sense.

matty1“Is building on Temple Mount even something the Israeli government wants to do?”
Haven’t you read the documentary series Left Behind?

The guy is clueless. Does he not realize that someone’s debt is someone else’s asset. I don’t think the 1 % is going to go for that. Neither will I like to see my bank account confiscated.
Also if there is a new religion, ie. secular humanism, why would the Jews need to built a temple to Jehova?

Some guy comes along, settles the Israeli/Palestinian issue with a two-state solution where Israel gets to build on the Temple Mount, gets all the nations of the world to cooperate, arranges for a global jubilee where all the debts are cancelled, coordinates the economies so they function well together …

And after all that, solving issues previously unsolved … issues people have tried to solve for thousands of years … they have to call him nasty names because deep in their craven little hearts they feel there has to be some payback for everything good.

I see the same thing in economics where the dogmatic assumption is that all good things come from suffering and sacrifice … so stimulus … easy to do and a real feel-good therapy, and shown repeatedly to work … just can’t be right. No, for the medicine to work it has to taste bad and burn going down.

I think it goes back to toilet training where the simple and natural pleasure of healthy elimination has to be countered with feelings of shame for participating and, God forbid, enjoying the natural process.

This shame spiral with pain/pleasure, approach/avoidance, becomes the model for all things. All pleasure has to be a guilty pleasure because they can’t feel they deserve pleasure. Christianity teaches that humans share the guilt and shame of original sin handed sown from Adam. We come from dirt. We are all unworthy. We have to be redeemed to be worthy of anything but an eternity of pain and suffering.

Debts can become impossible to pay off in which case the debtor suffers while trying and the creditor doesn’t get much benefit. Jubilee is once ancient suggestion* for dealing with this, set a time limit on all debts. Today we have bankruptcy laws that accomplish the same thing where it is necessary with fewer side effects, can you imagine the rates if all mortgages had to be paid off inside seven years?

*Does anyone know if this was ever actually put into practice or is it a case of later generations giving their ancestors the laws they thought they should have had?

Since this apocalypse is supposed to be put in motion by a global economic collapse, why aren’t these fundies condemning the Tea Party hostage takers? It’s their threat to force a credit default that’s poised to bring down the global economy, not any “regional wars”. They’re actually working WITH Obama, see, working to facilitate his global jubilee, bring the AntiChrist to world power, and force the end times, all by the end of the year. These are very efficient lads, I’m telling you.